Saroja-Lily Ratnavel is an actor studying in her final year at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). After graduating from Durham University with a First Class BA(Hons) in English Literature in 2019, Lily gained a place at LAMDA to study on the MFA Professional Acting course. Despite having to complete much of her course online, she has continued to love the experience of training at one of the top drama schools in London.
Saroja-Lily is the recipient of the Jonathan Gollow Award, awarded in August 2019.
What have you been working on in your studies?
Since my last update, I returned to London to start my second year at LAMDA. After 6 months of drama school training online, I was so pleased to get back to training in the building! My first project was a Shakespeare in Schools production of The Tempest. Normally, we would have toured this production around to different schools in the local area. But with COVID restrictions changing every day, we had to adapt. Thanks to some super talented technical students, we were able to livestream our performances to around 300 students across London and Birmingham. After the performances, we ran workshops and Q&A sessions with the students so they were able to learn a bit more about the rehearsal process and the world of the play. Whilst the experience was certainly different to what we were expecting, we were able to reach more students than would have been possible had we been able to visit the schools in person. It was definitely a strange experience performing to an empty theatre, with a full audience watching through a screen!
After The Tempest, we started rehearsals for our first public productions. I was cast in Europe by David Greig and I played the part of Adele. I really enjoyed the experience of playing a big role, but working with more COVID restrictions did make the rehearsal process quite challenging. In the end, we were able to livestream our performances to family, friends and industry guests, and it was lovely to have a small socially distanced live audience in the theatre watching too.
I started my second term in January from home with LAMDA’s move back to online learning. Whilst this was not what we were anticipating or hoping for, I did feel more comfortable with the experience of zoom training this time round. We started rehearsing for a production of Antigone which we will hopefully perform live in the theatre in June, and we spent 3 weeks working on our own self-created projects. My partner and I decided to make a sci-fi short film called ‘The Glitch’ which was a lot of fun! The challenge of writing, filming and editing the project ourselves from our separate homes was definitely hard work, but ended up being a really rewarding experience.
What kinds of challenges have you faced since studying as a student living through a pandemic and how have you overcome them?
It has definitely been a challenge to be a drama school student during a pandemic. Given the practical nature of my course, transforming rehearsal rooms into zoom rooms has been a tricky shift to navigate! But we have been in such a fortunate position to be able to keep rehearsing for our shows and developing our skills at a time when so many professionals in the performing arts industry have been unable to do so. I have tried to keep positive as I know that every industry has been affected by this pandemic, and no one could have predicted the challenges that we would all have faced over the past year. The experience has forced me to adapt and become more resilient to changes, and I know that these skills will really help me once I leave LAMDA and embark upon a career in such an unpredictable industry. It has also given me the chance to start developing my own work through writing and filmmaking, and has made me realise that these are skills that I would really like to continue developing in my career. The industry is changing, and it is incredibly likely that in the future most first-round auditions and meetings will be held online. With this in mind, I feel grateful to have been exposed to working in an online setting as much as I have done. As a graduating year of actors, I think we all feel much more comfortable and confident performing and communicating with people online, and I am hopeful that this will stand us in good stead as we make our first steps out into the industry.
What is next for you?
I am so excited to be returning to London next week to start my training back at LAMDA in person. We will have to keep working within COVID guidelines of social distancing and regular testing, but to have the opportunity to work in a rehearsal room with my classmates again is worth the adjustments for me! Next up I will be performing in another play, working on a showcase for industry professionals, and making a short film before performing Antigone in June. So a lot still to pack in for my final term! I am so sad that my time at LAMDA has nearly come to an end, but I am thrilled to be getting back to London to make the most of all the experiences that I have left. As always, I am so grateful to the Arts Council for all of the support that they have given me throughout my time at LAMDA.
